Overview:
Educator T.S. Carney reflects on his transition to working with emotionally disabled students in a challenging basement program, using humor, empathy, and de-escalation skills to support students often overlooked by the education system.
If you have read me, or have been reading me, or if this is the first time you’re reading me, then you have/or now will see that I can be deeply cynical, sardonic, and throw jokes under the radar that you might not catch unless you’re listening.
One thing that is not any of those things is that I have switched positions in the school.
No, not for disciplinary reasons, far from it.
In fact, you could call it “a promotion” because I was moved from pushing into classes and assisting regular education teachers to working with the emotional disability students. Some would say this is not a promotion (why would going from a more stable environment to a less stable environment?), but I disagree; it’s probably the best promotion one could get because my bosses see that I am most effective in de-escalating situations. It’s like having John McClain handle Nakatomi Tower, rather than someone else.
Now, the issue with this room – I’ll call it the “JUMP” program for privacy reasons, is that it is located in the basement, near the cafeteria, and the bathrooms. Furthermore, we have mice that scurry in and out (thankfully not in a month) with its close proximity to the Culinary Room as well.
And this is why I call this room “The Ouibette” a call-back to the Medieval prison -the room of the forgotten. Our job here is to ensure that the students remain peaceful and calm, while at the same time complete work. We are “the forgotten” in many ways because the heavy-hitters are placed down here, and the hopes are that their behaviors are “forgotten and controlled”.
It’s funny because a lot of people thought that I would not be good in this setting, much like people thought that I would not be good in the push-in setting, but my first job in this district was for over-aged under credited high school students (many of which were involved in some serious stuff).
I don’t want to name names, or even allude to stuff that is already published on court documents, but I’ve had students that range from petty-thefts to double homicides. My students, even now are still very much like those from before, and still I bring that same snarky attitude people know and love; and in traditional “Carney” fashion have “The Three Wise Men of Behavioral Expectations”:
So here we are in the Ouibette, tucked away between the cafeteria noise and the occasional scurrying mouse. The system might want these kids forgotten, but Uncle Sam, Dalton, and I aren’t going anywhere. We’ll keep playing our high-stakes game of behavioral chess in the basement because someone has to handle Nakatomi Tower. And if it takes a little snark and some pop-culture policing to keep the peace, then pretty please with sugar on top, let’s get to work.
